Effectiveness of Emotional Regulation Training in Impulsivity and Decision-making Styles of Female Prisoners with Drug Abuse Experience

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of emotion regulation training in impulsivity and decision-making styles in female prisoners with drug abuse experience in Yasouj city. A quasi-experimental research design along with pre-test/ post-test/ control group was used for the conduct of this study. Thirty female prisoners in Yasouj with drug abuse experience (15 experimental group cases and 15 control group cases) were selected through simple random sampling as the research sample and received the 8-session curriculum of emotional regulation based on Grass model (1999). The data collection tools consisted of Barat Impact Inventory and Scott and Bruce Decision-Making Style. The results of this study indicated the effectiveness of the emotional regulation curriculum in reducing total impulsivity and cognitive, behavioral, and unplanned impulsivity in female prisoners with drug abuse experience. Moreover, the results showed that the training of this program has a significant effect on increasing the levels of rational and intuitive decision-making styles and reducing the levels of avoidant, dependent, and spontaneous decision-making styles. With emotional regulation training, one can reduce the degrees of impulsivity among female prisoners with drug use experience and improve their decision-making styles. Hence, it is possible to mitigate the problems of these prisoners.